Jeremy
RifkinThe
Bio-tech Century: Harnessing the Gene and Remaking the World

Underwritten by:Blue Cross and Blue
Shield of West Michigan

“The risks attendant
to the Biotech Century are at least as ominous as the rewards are seductive,”
writes Jeremy Rifkin in his 1998 bestseller The Biotech Century.
Rifkin has been influential in shaping public policy by addressing the
social, economic and ecological impact of scientific and technological
changes. In his lecture, he will question whether the artificial creation
of cloned animals means the end of nature and the substitution of a “bio-industrial”
world. He will consider what it will mean to live in a world where babies
are genetically engineered and customized in the womb. Rifkin will force
each of us to put a mirror to our most deeply held values and ponder with
him the ultimate question of the purpose and meaning of existence as we
become engulfed in the biotech revolution.